"Never give in, never give in, never, never- in nothing, great or small, large or petty- never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy." WINSTON CHURCHILL

Monday, February 12, 2007

Klaus for US base in czech republic

Prague- Czech President Vaclav Klaus expressed support for the possible stationing of a U.S. radar defence base in the Czech Republic, he said in an interview for today's issue of the daily Hospodarske noviny, but he added that a number of details must yet be adjusted. "Yes, on conditions that thousands of details are tuned-up," Klaus told HN. "There is a number of subjects to discussion. For instance, the 'tuning-up'of the issue concerning relations between the Czech Republic and the USA in relation to relations between the Czech Republic and NATO and the EU," Klaus said. Klaus also said he agrees with the National Security Council to give the green light to negotiations on the U.S. radar base. He added he is also glad that a serious debate on the base has started. "The debate is political, it has also its civic grounds, political parties express their opinions in it. I would consider it immensely unfortunate if we narrowed this debate in this phase again to yes or now as some politicians are trying to do. Let us debate military, legal and international implications and let us clarify them. Only then it will be easy to say yes or no," Klaus said. Klaus also reacted to Russian opposition to the planned U.S. defence base in Central Europe. In connection with his planned visit to Russia and talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Klaus said that he must wait whether Putin would touch upon this issue at all. Klaus recalled that the same debate had been around the Czech Republic's entry into NATO. Klaus pointed out that Russian representatives had always pronounced very strong statements on this topic for "domestic audiences." "At the moment you have been leading talks with them for two hours, they do not mention this issue at all. They can simply divide genres very carefully," said Klaus. The USA officially asked for the building of a radar on the Czech military training grounds Brdy, some 70km southwest of Prague, in January. The Czech Foreign Ministry is to send the answer to the official U.S. note within a couple of weeks. The USA would like to build a missile defence base in the neighbouring Poland that would be interconnected with the radar system in the Czech Republic.